In addition to being a puzzle designer, I’m also an avid escape room player. Over the past year, I’ve played 120+ remote escape rooms, 80+ of which I’ve reviewed for Room Escape Artist’s Hivemind. You can find my full archive of reviews here.

I get asked quite frequently for escape room recommendations, so without further ado, here’s Part 1 of my personal remote escape room recommendation guide!

Through experiencing a broad survey of the remote escape room scene, I can say that the games which stand out most are the ones which create magical moments that wouldn’t be possible in an in-person escape room. So much is possible in this medium, and we’re still only getting started.

Start with THE ANSWER. Re-split and add two letters to get a Greek and a curse. Look oddly for the answer. No spoilers!

An actor facilitating the game aurally guides your team into a world of collective imagination, in a style akin to RPG gameplay. The facilitator describes your surroundings, often with some light visual aids, and you describe what actions you’d like to take.

I love how this format is completely untethered from the practicalities of physical implementation. In an instant, you can be anyone and go anywhere, interact with fantastical characters, try things which might be dangerous or impossible in a physical environment.

This style of gameplay really took shape at the start of the pandemic, though there were a few remote avatar escape rooms before then. Basically, your team remotely experiences a physical escape room through an avatar - someone who is physically in the room, acting as your eyes and hands over a live video feed. In many games, there’s an inventory system which gives you close-up stills of important items and possibly also some 360 views of the room(s). Most games are existing real-life escape rooms which have been adapted to be playable in this format, though some have been designed and built specifically for remote play.

Evoovg -> enoovg -> enoov (in ROT13)

Congrats to everyone who submitted a correct answer: Sean M., Yossi, Conor Durkin, Wassamatta_u, Tommy, Fro , Sean McB, RoomEscapeArtist.com, Mark W, Margo Gray, Elliot & Griffin & Lucy T, Michael Andersen, Jennifer Love, Drew W, River Sol, LN, Gina Qin, Joe, Ryan Kannegiesser, Patrick Geer, Melinda, Hannah, Adam Sequoyah, Zach Z, and Kevin S.

Cryptically yours,

Matthew